A Croatian court today confirmed that Smiljana Srnec is accused of killing her sister, Jasmina Dominic, by keeping her body in a freezer for 18 years.
A spokesman for the court, Varazdin, said today that Srnec was accused of killing Dominic with a hard object, causing multiple fractures to her head, which led to her death.
Yesterday a court ordered the pre-trial detention of the woman. The body of Jasmina Dominic's younger sister, who disappeared when she was 23 in 2000, was found Saturday in a freezer of a family home where 45-year-old Srnec lives with her husband and three children.
The house is located in the village of Palovec in northern Croatia. Jasmina was declared missing in 2005, but was last seen in 2000 when she was 23 years old.
Police said they were misled by members of the girl's family during the initial investigations, with the family stating that the girl had moved abroad and that they were in contact with them. Local media reported that the accused Srnec confessed to the murder in an informal conversation with the police authorities, but her lawyer denied it.
The local newspaper Jutarnji reported today that police are expanding their homicide investigation that shocked the country and will soon begin questioning other close members of Dominic's family.
It remains unknown whether or not the mother of the victim and the perpetrator will testify. Jasmina's father, who died a few years ago, said in 2011 that his daughter had told him in 2000 that he was going to work on a cruise ship and that he planned to go and live in Paris. Jasmina was buried yesterday Wednesday in the village of Palovets.
Source: KYPE